1797 Twopence – George III – Cartwheel Twopence

The 1797 Twopence - George III - Cartwheel Twopence

The 1797 Twopence, widely known as the 'Cartwheel' Twopence, is the heaviest circulating coin in modern British history. Its size earned the coin its nickname. It has a diameter of 41mm, it is 5mm thick and weighs 56.70g - two ounces.

It is almost sixteen times heavier than a modern penny. Image walking around with a few of these in your pocket! It was obviously too large and heavy for everyday use, they were unpopular with merchants and so these coins were only made in 1797.

Why was the 1797 Cartwheel Twopence so large in the first place? Back in the latter part of the 18th Century, gold and silver were shooting up in price. This affected the gold Guinea and also the lower denomination silver coins. This made silver coins too expensive to use in small value coins which resulted in a general lack of small change to pay wages.

Copper coins seemed to be the solution, but this was the time of the Industrial Revolution and many individuals had a small press and the technical ability to illegally manufacture coins. Copper was cheap and by the 1790s maybe 90% of the British copper coinage was counterfeit.

Eventually, the British government asked Birmingham Industrialist Matthew Boulton to use his private mint in Soho, Birmingham, to strike official British coins. Boulton, who had James Watt as a business partner, would use steam power for the first time to create British coinage.

Matthew Boulton offered a complete design service and had his own artist/engraver, Conrad Heinrich Küchler, to design both sides of the coin. Küchler (1740-1810) was a German engraver who came to England in 1793 and was employed by the Soho Mint.

The government gave Boulton 480 tonnes of copper to make pennies, and another 20 tonnes to make twopences. Because of the high level of forgeries, it was stipulated that a twopenny coin had to contain two penny’s worth of copper. This created a physically huge coin as one penny could purchase about one ounce of copper.

The Reverse shows Britannia, but not sitting on rocks as in previous depictions but on the waves of the sea with a ship in the distance. The impression is that Britain rules the waves. Britannia holds a trident in one hand and an olive branch in the other. Look closely below the shield, in the waves you can see ‘SOHO’ engraved in it.

There is a deeply raised rim on both sides of the coin and the legend is incuse. The coin has a plain edge. SCBC reference 3776.

The Obverse is a bust of King George III.

There are a number of variations concerning alloys and finish – copper, copper proof, gilt copper proof, bronzed proof, silver proof and gold proof. The proofs are rare and can be expensive.

Image credit: The Royal Mint

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